“Bookshops and Bonedust,” by Travis Baldree. Tor Books, 2023. 352 pages. $17.99 (paperback).

Viv had finally gotten her wish – she joined up with Rackam’s Ravens. Her mercenary career wasn’t going as she wished though. Hot-headed and young, she was injured during a battle against a necromancer. She wakes up in a sleepy little beach town named Murk. Terrified she’ll be left behind and forgotten, she tries to stay in shape. To while away the time, she spends hours at a bookshop that is in desperate disrepair and owned by a shockingly foul-mouthed storekeeper. When a creepy guy in a grey cloak shows up, Viv’s sleepy little town gets much livelier. Viv makes friends with an annoying gnome, has a summer fling, and suddenly finds herself battling skeletons.

Viv is an orc, and that means that most people are scared of her. She arrives on the doorstep of a bookstore that intrigues her and decides to go in because she has nothing better to do. Viv meets a gryphet (basically an owl dog) named Potroast and the bookstore owner, a half-human, half-rat named Fern. Much of the story takes place in and around the bookstore. Through conversations and battles of will, Fern and Viv become friends. Viv herself learns to love reading.

Fern has a knack for knowing just what kind of story someone might like. Together, they slowly bring the bookstore back to life. The friendship between Fern and Viv is perhaps one of the greats. They learn about each other slowly. Through that comes their friendship, the witty banter, and the ability to call each other out. They are there for each other. There was never any question that Viv would do anything she could for Fern, and vice versa.

This whole story was just so much fun. If you love playing Dungeons and Dragons or other fantasy games, you will love this book. Some of the book’s stories made me think, “Wow, this would be a fun D&D campaign!”

And even though you could call this a cozy fantasy, I do think it is a bit deeper than that. There is, after all, a necromancer at large who must be taken down. That plotline does not stay away for long, and in bits and pieces, it begins to affect Viv’s time in this small town on the water. We see more of the magic in this world, and there are fight scenes, confrontations and a nice battle at the end. There are also stories of friendship and a little bit of romance. This book has almost everything you could want!

The plot never drags, and there is plenty going on, whether it’s just a fun conversation in the bookshop, or something darker. It keeps you wanting to flip to the next page. The cast of characters makes reading this a treat all around. We have Maylee, a dwarven baker, who knows who she is and can knock someone out flat. We’ve got Fern, our foul-mouthed bookseller and Potroast, the fussy gryphet. There are others, but to mention them would give away some of the plot! Each friendship tells a different story and shows another side of Viv.

“Bookshops and Bonedust” is a prequel to Baldree’s “Legends & Lattes” (2022). This book is set twenty years earlier than “Legends & Lattes,” and you can see the bits and pieces of this story that send Viv down the path she takes to retiring and becoming a Coffee Shop owner in Legends & Lattes. Viv is a warrior and an orc but discovers that she can become much more than that. She learns who she can be outside of social norms, and it is wonderful to follow her along that journey.

There is a wonderful epilogue at the end of this book that flashes forward and contains “Legends & Lattes” spoilers. For that reason, I’d suggest reading “Legends & Lattes” before this book. I’d also suggest that you buy them together, because you’ll want to read them both one after the other!

In addition to these two books, Travis Baldree is a narrator who has voiced hundreds of books. Baldree lives in Washington State with his wife, two kids, and a dog. He is also a veteran game developer who is the CEO of Double Damage Games. You can find out more on his website: HYPERLINK “https://www.travisbaldree.com/”https://www.travisbaldree.com/.

– Reviewed by Fallon Willoughby, School of Professional Studies, Western Kentucky University.